The Overton Window: Index

This is the index to Drek's series on The Overton Window. Use the links below to find any episode in the series... if you dare!

No, seriously, it's a really awful book.

We finish the experience, in part, with a final comment of the week winner. This last time, the winner is Jay, basically because even after I suffered through this entire train wreck, he still thought it right to wrap up by mentioning off-handedly that I'm a dumbass:

What really screws up this book's argument is the fact that the founders didn't agree themselves on what they wanted. The Congregational Church of Massachusetts was a good deal more rabid than the worst fundamentalists, and was the official state church. Some of the founders were deists, which is pretty much what atheism looked like before Darwin and Heisenberg. New England Yankees had (and to some extent still have) a thriving tradition of local democracy, but the South sure didn't. Their founding document was a compromise, and when the first compromise didn't work they tossed it and wrote a new one.

P.S. The electoral college existed because without mass media, mass literacy, and fast travel it was impossible for the masses to form a reasonable opinion on the candidates. Instead, they'd have to vote for somebody they knew for the state legislature. The legislature chose men of good judgement to go to Washington and meet the candidates.

Ah, yes, the true reason for the electoral college: not because everyone was an elitist, but because horses only move so fast. I should have remembered that but, alas, I was in too much of a hurry. And yet, somehow, I think my account remained more plausible than the absurd logic contained in the book. In any case, well-played Jay, and congratulations.

So, we should finally ask who had the most comment of the week wins. The final scores are as follows:

Sassafras - 15
Jay - 14
Ken - 10
Aussiesmurf - 3
Mister Troll - 2
Jonas - 2
Whatisthewhat - 2
Scripto - 1

And thus Sassafras comes in with the most comments of the week wins, with Jay in 2nd place and Ken in 3rd. Congratulations everyone! Sassafras has earned the right to a prize, to be decided by her and subject to my veto. This can include, but is not limited to, receiving my personal copy of The Overton Window in the mail as a keepsake. Other possibilities are a post on a subject of her choosing or the opportunity to write a guest post here on Total Drek. Or, you know, whatever as long as it's not too much work for me. I'll also be extra receptive to suggestion by our top three contestants for the next book I do this to, with the understanding that my wife has basically threatened me with grievous bodily harm if I do this again in the near future. And trust me, she knows how to use that hammer.

Prolegomenon

Dedication, Acknowledgements, Author's Note, & Prologue

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3, Part 1
Chapter 3, Part 2
Intermission
Chapters 4 & 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10

Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20

Chapter 21
Chapters 22 & 23
Chapter 24
Chapters 25 & 26
Intermission
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30

Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapters 33 & 34
Chapter 35
Intermission
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40

Chapter 41
Intermission
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Epilogue
Afterword

Last Thoughts